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Hunter’s Vintage Rolls Is a Rolling Arsenal

Mr. Nugent, your Rolls awaits.

A vintage Rolls-Royce festooned with weaponry and upfitted for off-roading to hunt tigers and elephants may be the definition of automotive grandiosity, but it also could be yours for a mere $1 million.

This preposterous 1925 New Phantom was built as a dedicated hunting car by Rolls-Royce with coachwork by Barker & Company in 1925 at the request of Umed Singh II, Maharaja of Kotah. Apparently Raj-era Kotah was similar to modern day Wasilla, overrun with both wild animals and politicians who like to shoot them from moving vehicles.

On board is enough firepower to blow away the Bronx Zoo including a double-barrel howdah pistol and a mountable Lantaka cannon used for hunting elephants. There’s also a rifle stand in the rear seat and, especially for Bengal tigers, a machine gun that can be trailered from the rear of the car. Rifles and bird guns are stored in the rear of the car.

While the phrase “trailer-mounted machine gun” conjures up images of ragtag Afghan warlords driving clapped-out Toyota Hiluxes, this is still one extravagant car. It’s got an 8-liter, 6-cylinder engine that put out what Rolls-Royce then called “adequate” horsepower, plus a low gearing ratio and tall tires for maneuvering through rough jungle terrain. Lighting included front and rear spotlights plus a red light that glowed when the Maharaja was on board. A blue light was lit if his wife was a passenger.

Oddly, a car designed for hunting big game in the wilds of the Indian subcontinent was finished in a nautical theme with a boatlike hood and cowl ventilation. That makes the nickel-plated horn shaped like a hissing snake all the more incongruous.

Due to the vehicle’s unique history, the Indian government once expressed interest in repatriating the car as a historical artifact. Then-owner Rubin Jurman said no, and also refused an offer of $200,000 more than what it’s current owner, Jim Faulknor, agreed to pay for it. Faulknor is putting the car up for sale during Bonhams’ annual two-day sale in Carmel, California on Aug. 18 and 19. The final sale price is estimated to fall between $750,000 and $1 million.

We wouldn’t be surprised if the Indian government made an offer for the car when it hits the auction block. If they don’t get in the high bid, it would also come as no shock to see the car end up with “GoDaddy.com” decals plastered all over it — but only because there’s a slim chance Ted Nugent would ever drive a British car.